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DrugScreening.org


 
New Research on Inhalant Use with Other Drugs
October 1, 2004

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Research Summary

New research finds that young people who misuse drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, heroin, hallucinogens, sedatives, tranquilizers, pain relievers, and stimulants, are also four times as likely to misuse inhalants, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

The study also said that adolescents who began using inhalants at age 13 or 14 were six times more likely to be dependent on them than those who started using inhalants at age 15 to 17.

Furthermore, adolescents with a history of foster-care placement were five times more likely to become dependent on inhalants than those never placed away from home. Adolescents who were treated for mental-health problems were two times as likely to be dependent on inhalants.

The study, led by Dr. Li-Tzy Wu, examined the prevalence and characteristics of inhalant use, misuse, and dependence among 36,859 adolescents aged 12-17 who participated in the 2000 and 2001 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse (recently renamed the National Survey on Drug Use & Health).

"Our study provides more evidence that early use of inhalants may be a precursor for later drug abuse that grows to include abuse of multiple illegal substances," said Wu. "We found that approximately 60 percent of the adolescents who reported using inhalants during the past year also reporting the use of more than one type of inhalant."

The most commonly used inhalants reported by study participants were glue, shoe polish, and gasoline. Other inhalants mentioned included nitrous oxide, lighter fluid, spray paints, correction fluid, and paint solvents.

The study's findings are published in the October 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

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